The Compliment That Isn’t One
Most of us have been saying it for years without noticing. She looks good for her age. She’s still attractive. She hasn’t lost it. The compliments designed to reassure that carry a darker message underneath – Darling, you are on the danger line, and your days of being relevant are running out. The messaging incidentally that has many of us propping up the beauty industry and even wondering about whether it’s time for a face lift.
Jacynth Bassett decided to strike back at this collective defeatism. And rather than absorb the slights she built a campaign around dismantling them. The mechanics are straightforward. Identify the phrases that prop up the idea that interesting women are a product of youth. Expose them. Rewrite them.
“Stop colluding with it. Break out of the denial racket where we pretend our looks ended on our thirtieth birthday.”
The #ILookMyAge campaign didn’t ask women to pretend the prejudice didn’t exist. Instead it asked all of us to stop colluding with it – and break out of the denial racket where we pretend our looks ended on our thirtieth birthday.
For over five years she has been asking women of different ages to step out in front of the camera. So instead of having just young women stare out at us we see the faces of women at different stages of life. Beautiful in a different way. They strike energetic poses. They show empathy. They show a zest for living. They have presence.
Judging by the response, Jacynth Bassett’s idea is in step with the cultural mood. It’s clear women in the Western world feel they have been locked up in a straitjacket – forced to conform to outmoded looks and ideas that slam the brakes on maturity. The youth theme for all its beauty freezes us in time. Makes us infantile.
45 Million Views and Counting
The numbers back it up. The #ILookMyAge hashtag has over 45 million organic views. Her stock imagery project: 60,000 downloads. More importantly it’s no longer a small collective of discontented nobodies. It’s a chorus of intergenerational women helping to craft new images. Expanding the boundaries.
Meet the Hag Collection
Bassett is especially critical of the stack of tropes attached to older women – what I’d call the Hag Collection. The word “grandma” deployed as shorthand for out-of-touch, past it, irrelevant. The phrase “for her age,” which sounds like a compliment but is, at best, a cop-out – at worst, a gloved insult. “Seasoned” for him. “Older” for her. His confidence is authority. Hers is being strident. His experience is an asset. Hers is a liability dressed up in polite language and the occasional bewildered compliment. Language that reduces a woman’s entire history, intelligence and capability to the number of years she’s been alive.
“Seasoned for him. Older for her. His confidence is authority. Hers is difficulty.”
The Age Pen – and How We Got Locked In It
Here’s the reality. Show me the woman over fifty who hasn’t caught that tinge of disdain – the fractional recalibration – the moment a younger colleague, or sometimes an older one (which is worse), clocks that you’ve reached your half-century. The older ones look faintly panicked, as if being seen in the same conversation with you might land them in what I can only call an Age Pen – a professional enclosure that drains your work currency by association. And the younger ones? Don’t get me started. Ever since IT moved to the centre of work culture, it became the easiest available mechanism for dismissal. Well, of course, she’s probably a bit behind with the tech. Four words. Actual value, cancelled.
And the dismissal doesn’t even wait until fifty in some cultures. It starts the moment you become a mother. I remember visiting a close friend shortly after she’d given birth. Throughout the visit, her own mother barely addressed her directly. It was all about the children – the new generation, the ones that mattered now. By giving birth, my friend had, in her mother’s eyes, condemned herself to irrelevancy. No point in dressing up anymore. That was all in the past. Move over, buddy.
“By giving birth, my friend had, in her mother’s eyes, condemned herself to irrelevancy. No point in dressing up anymore.”
The campaign was brought to life by an all-female, age-diverse team spanning five decades. Five decades of experience, skill and perspective working across generations. Not just believing the experience is too expensive. The result is a campaign that was made by people who actually understand what they’re talking about. Moreover for those of us who have been hanging back, or wandering around as though we somehow landed in Age Hell, Bassett’s campaign acts as an invitation. Stop the self-flagellation, the fear and dress up proudly.
Ageism Is Never In Style® can be found at ageismisneverinstyle.com
Now Meet the Women Behind the Camera
Photographers Across the UK Working to Change How Older Women Are Seen
The movement is bigger than any one campaign. Across England, Scotland and Wales, a growing number of photographers are doing exactly what Jacynth Bassett has been doing – turning the camera on older women and letting what they see speak for itself. Here is a selection worth knowing about.
London and the South East
Salt & Pepper Models (saltandpeppermodels.co.uk) is not a photography studio but a model agency that has built dedicated books for women over 60 and over 70. If you want to see what range actually looks like in practice, this is a good starting point.
Sandra Reynolds (sandrareynolds.co.uk) is one of London’s longest-established model agencies, now celebrating fifty years. Their Classic division represents mature women for fashion, advertising and commercial campaigns, working with brands including Charlotte Tilbury, BMW and Tesco. A quiet pioneer.
Okoh’s Boudoir (boudoir.elizabethokoh.com) founded by photographer Lize Okoh, operates from a London studio with a background in psychology as well as photography. The combination shows. She describes her work as image healing – an interesting phrase that isn’t quite as overblown as it sounds.
Emily Stein (London-based, featured in Dazed) is a fine art photographer whose ongoing series on older women – including her long-running project with her neighbour Nora – has attracted serious critical attention. Less commercial than most on this list, and more interesting for it.
The South West
Viktoria Kuti (viktoriakuti.com) works from a Bristol studio specialising in women’s portraiture of all kinds – from maternity to boudoir. An internationally published, award-winning photographer with a talent for making reluctant subjects forget they are being photographed.
Morag MacDonald / Bristol Boudoir Photography (bristolboudoirphotography.co.uk) is currently running Chapter Four of her 50 Over 50 project – which tells you something about the demand. Award-winning, Bristol-based, and refreshingly direct about what she is trying to do.
Andrea de Gabriel (andreadegabriel.co.uk) is a Cornwall and Devon based photographer running her own 50 Over 50 Amazing Women Project, which culminates in a printed magazine and gallery exhibition. The format is worth noting – it takes the work off a screen and into the world.
Kensa Boudoir (kensaboudoir.co.uk) operates from Devon and Cardiff, with photographers Karen and Julie having worked with over 3,000 women between them. One of the few studios with genuine dual England-Wales reach.
The Midlands
Angela Adams Photography (angelaadamsphotography.co.uk) based in Nottingham, created her Me and Proud project for International Women’s Day 2020 – photographing fifty women over fifty without makeup, hair styling or elaborate clothing. The results were striking precisely because of what was removed rather than what was added.
BU Photography Studio (buphotographystudio.co.uk) Staffordshire, was named Boudoir Photography Specialist of the Year 2024-25 and Studio of the Year 2025. Works with women of all ages with particular sensitivity to those who have been out of the frame – literally and figuratively – for some time.
Dollhouse Photography (dollhousephotography.co.uk) Birmingham, offers an all-female team working across boudoir, vintage and fashion. Their line – “we don’t manufacture confidence, we bring out what’s already there” – sums up their approach.
The North of England
Lumiere Photographic (lumierephotographic.com) operates from a studio in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, with a particular focus on helping women who have been out of photographs for decades understand why they should get back in front of a camera.
Belle Privé / Emma Finch (belleprive.co.uk) Manchester – Emma Finch is a multi-award winning photographer and UK Portrait Photographer of the Year, working from a boutique Manchester studio. Clients travel from across Europe. Specialises in capturing what she calls the essence of a woman’s beauty in timeless images.
MyBoudoir (myboudoir.co.uk) based in the north of England and drawing clients from Manchester, Cheshire, Glasgow and London, has been operating long enough to have written a book on the subject. The experience shows.
Wales
Ally Clarke Photography (allyclarke.uk) based in Mid Wales and Powys, runs a campaign called 50 and Fabulous specifically for women approaching or past their half-century. Plans an exhibition when the project is complete. Covers Welshpool, Newtown, Shrewsbury and across the border into the West Midlands.
The Portrait Boutique Cardiff (theportraitboutiquecardiff.com) is an award-winning luxury photography studio with an all-female team specialising in boudoir, bridal, maternity and headshots. One of the few high-end options in Wales for women wanting a serious photographic experience.
Scotland
Gerri Campbell Photography (gerricampbellphotography.com) Glasgow and Edinburgh – Gerri Campbell works across Scotland with business owners and entrepreneurs who want brand photography that actually looks like them. Particularly good at coaxing personality from people who have been told, in one way or another, to tone it down.
Emerald Photography (emeraldphotography.co.uk) is a Scottish boudoir and empowerment photographer, Debbie, who describes her work as a “spa day for the soul” – a phrase that sounds suspicious (especially for camera phobics) until you read the testimonials. Works with women across all ages and body types.
Sophie Gerrard (sophiegerrard.com) is in a different category from most on this list – a documentary and portrait photographer whose work is held in the National Collection of Scotland and has been exhibited at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Photographers’ Gallery London and Paris Photo. Her series on women’s lives in Scotland and the Scottish Borders brings rigour and visual intelligence to territory that is often handled more superficially.
Note: All listings verified as current UK-based practitioners. Recommend a quick check before publication in case of any updates since web listings were last refreshed.
